IT Calendar

IT Policies

Web Services Policies

1. The Central
State Homepage

The Central State homepage will welcome visitors and serve as an
institutional direction-finder, as well as a focal point of contact
to and from other related Web sites. It is intended to provide information
that addresses our constituents and their needs and interests. Selected
university operations will have Web sites that will be considered
core to the Central State homepage. Such Web sites must to meet
particular standards of design and organization. Electronic pages
that support the university's mission may be linked to the Central
State homepage and/or reside on university servers.

Other Central State Web Sites

University units (faculty, staff, and students therein) that wish
to provide information via Web-enabled technology are encouraged
to do so. Any academic unit, administrative unit, or individual
considering the development of Web pages must clearly define the
intent of that site, and, therefore, the resources and content required
for it to accomplish associated goals.

2. Responsible
Use

Contents of all electronic pages must be consistent with The Central
State University's policies and local, state, and federal laws.
This includes links to other pages or computers. Pages found to
be inconsistent with such policies and/or laws may be disconnected
from the university's homepage and other top level pages.

Anticipate Required Resources
By the nature of Web-based technology, an expectation and a unique
and challenging opportunity for currency of information exists.
Consideration should therefore be given to the staff and technical
resources that will be needed to establish and operate this site
on a reliable basis, including appropriate hours of availability.
Participation in this distributed technology requires maintenance
and currency of information provided. Pages with time- sensitive
information that are not maintained may be disconnected from the
university's homepage and top level pages. Accordingly, initially
it is important to consider the type of Web presence needed and
the resources necessary to maintain the site.

3. Web
Site Security

Web server software needs to be secured. Also, it is important to
be aware, if writing executable code or CGI scripts for Web applications,
that there are inherent security risks. Knowledgeable programmers
should be tasked with reviewing, if not writing of, such code to
prevent security problems. Web server equipment and operating systems
that Web servers run on must to be secured by knowledgeable network
administrators.

4. Web
Site Content

(revised March 31, 2009)
No homepage can
contain any copyrighted or trademarked material without permission
except as permitted by law. Photographs, drawings, video clips,
or sound clips may not be used on a page without permission of the
person who created them or who owns the rights except as permitted
by law.

All pages directly linked to the university's homepage
must contain the following information:

identification of the Central State University (http://www.centralstate.edu);

name of the unit publishing the page (division, department, program, etc.); and

Central State University standard navigation (http://www.centralstate.edu/resources/navigation.html)

5. ADA
Compliance

Accessibility for all potential users (ADA compliant) must be implemented
when designing Web pages.

As with other university promotional and informational communications,
advertising should be considered the exception and not the rule.
Communication that is deemed to be central to the mission of the
university and/or associated units should be subsidized accordingly.

Exceptions may be appropriate under these circumstances:
the advertising is core to the purpose of the site (i.e., referrals
to non-university services of particular interest to the constituent);

a site that is determined to be core to the mission
of the university and/or the expectations and needs of its constituents
requires maintenance resources that exceed internal allocations;

when used as references to commercial sites for
the purpose of providing an Internet bibliography.

acknowledgement of funding sources, proprietary
technologies, site developer, and other naming of commercial ventures
may be deemed appropriate by the creating unit and may be used
in a manner that does not detract from the educational or administrative
purpose of the site; such acknowledgement does not constitute
and should not imply an endorsement by the university.

Additional advertising considerations include:

a site supported by advertising may be better placed
in the .com domain;

revenue generated by advertising may be subject
to unrelated business income tax (UBIT);

advertisements or icons that are links to a commercial
site may conflict with the interests of the university and involved
unit, in that they take the viewer away from the university site,
to which a return may be difficult.

advertising that is considered in exception of
the above policy must not conflict with the intent and primary
messages of the page, nor should it reflect an undignified image
of the university;